For Juvia
by gruviashallbecanon
Summary: Gruvia one shot. 12 years into the future, Juvia is dead and Gray has a family, but one day Gray breaks.


Gray sat in his room on the bed, the light blue walls shining down on him. He gripped the painting in his hands, one of the few last mementos of her. Reedus had captured them so perfectly that day after the Grand Magic Games. He was talking animatedly, waving his arms around, wearing nothing but his boxers, and she had her head thrown back in mid laugh, blue waves cascading down her shoulders. Gray wished he could see her like that every day, so carefree, so devoted.

"Gray, sweetie, dinner!" Damn it. Gray wrapped the painting back up, put it in the box, and slid it to the top of the shelves in his closet. Gray grabbed his shirt and started hopping down the stairs.

"Coming, Makaria!"

Gray sat at dinner, distracted. Makaria hummed to herself, dishing out the mashed potatoes.

"Mom!" Emma whined. "I don't like mashed potatoes!"

"More for me!" David chimed, scooping spoonfuls off of Emma's plate.

"Emma, David, eat your own mashed potatoes. Right Gray?" Makaria settled down in her chair and looked to him. "Gray? Sweetie?"

Gray jerked his head up. "Oh, yeah, sure."

"Dad, you okay?" David asked, piling scoop after scoop of mushy potato into his mouth.

Makaria scolded him. "David, it's not going to run away from you." She turned her attention to Gray. "_Are_ you okay, sweetheart?"

Gray shook himself off. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a long day at work."

"You trade mushrooms with other old guys. How can your day be tiring?" Emma asked.

"Emma! Apologize this instant!" Makaria demanded.

Gray smiled softly. "No, it's okay. Emma's right. I just need a good night's sleep tonight."

David looked up from his potato mountain. "Dad, I've decided what I want to do."

"And I think it's ridiculous!" Makaria added, serving herself some more green beans.

"It's not!" David defended. "I want to be a wizard. I want to learn how to use water magic. And there's a woman I met today who's a real water wizard. She said she'll teach me!"

Makaria pounded her fist on the table. "Wizarding is a very risky job! You could lose your life! Besides you need to start your training when you're much younger!"

"Water mage?" Gray whispered. He shook his head and joined the conversation. "Makaria, its not the jobs that kill wizards, it's the fighting for your friends and the getting drunk all the time."

"How would you know, Dad? You've never even seen a wizard guild!" David yelled.

Makaria stood up. "David, you are not becoming a wizard. That is final. Did your dad ever become a wizard? No. And he is perfectly happy today."

David smacked the table. "I can do whatever I want with my life! I'm gonna join a wizard guild! Maybe I'll join the best in the land, Fairy Tail! And then I'll become rich and famous. I will be a water wizard and you can't do anything to stop me!" David tore away from the room and pounded up the steps.

Makaria sat back down and sighed. After a moment she picked the conversation back up. "So, Gray, today me and Emma were in town and we ran into that boy she likes."

"Mom, I don't like Jean!" Emma whined. "I just know him from school. Leave my personal life out of this."

Makaria giggled. "She even called him Jean-sama." Emma grumbled into her getting cold mashed potatoes. Gray's eyes shot up. Sama? She called him sama?

"Gray, sweetie, is something the matter?" Makaria touched his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Gray assured her.

Makaria rubbed her growing stomach. "I came up with a name if it's a girl today."

Gray nodded in acknowledgment. "I was shifting through storage today and I saw a painting from back when you were in the trading guild Ferry Tale. You were sitting next to a pretty girl in blue with blue hair. She was the cutest thing. I would be jealous if she liked you. When I saw the name on the back, I thought it would be a great one for our child. Juvia, right?"

Gray shot up, knocking his plate to the floor, freezing the table.

"Gray, darling, what's the matter? Are you alright? What did you do?" Makaria stepped back in confusion.

"I have to go," Gray whimpered, and he shot out of the house. Ice appeared to the left and right of him as he ran.

He tried to push the pictures out of his head, but they started and wouldn't stop. A slideshow of painful memories. Battling, stalking, protecting. Sitting in the guild covered in caramel. Dancing, fighting together, rejecting, no matter what together.

She was a water wizard and a powerful one who turned her emotions into raw power. She had the softest blue hair that was a waterfall next to her pale face with perfect eyes and the softest lips. Her voice, so sweet and excited, calling his name, making him feel special, Gray-sama. The way she never said I, as if she was never really there, just a narrator. Her devotion to him, the way she never wanted to leave his side. The way she trusted in him, no matter his decision or ruling. The way she loved him and always would.

Juvia. Juvia. Juvia. Juvia. Juvia.

There was no one in the world who could take her place, no one who could measure up to her standards. No David, no Emma, no Makaria. And certainly no lying Gray who could barely keep it together after hearing her name.

There was only one.

It was late. 8 pm, 10 pm, midnight, Gray would never know. Gray collapsed in the cemetery behind his old guild. Not Ferry Tale. Fairy Tail. Where he was the cool Gray Fullbuster, ice mage.

Gray crawled over to the gray tombstone. It was slightly weathered, but there were fresh blue flowers next to it, that Mirajane changed every week or so. Gray decided that when he died, he wanted to be buried right next to her, so he was always beside her. Gray sat in front of the tombstone and let the tears flow as the memories flashed.

Gray was stopped when a girl about Emma's age, ten or so came out to the cemetery. She had pink hair and wore a white scarf. The girl took one look at Gray and screamed.

She sprinted back into the guild, which was still in full swing at whatever time it was.

"MOMMY! DADDY! THERE'S SOME WEIRDO WITH NO SHIRT ON SITTING BY AUNT JUVIA'S GRAVE!"

Gray turned to see a man with pink hair sprint out of the guild. He had fire on his hands. Natsu. A blonde woman came next, a little boy on her hip. Lucy.

Natsu took one look at Gray and stopped. "Gray? Is that you, you ice-idiot?"

Gray stood up and walked into the light where they could see him. He nodded. Natsu roared fire in front in excitement.

Lucy held up a hand. "Whoa! Natsu, be careful with fire around Igneel." Then she set the baby boy on the ground and sprinted over to Gray, almost knocking him over with a hug. "Gray! We thought you were dead! You were missing for 12 years!"

The little girl was hiding behind Natsu. "Daddy, is that, Uncle Gray?"

Natsu grinned in confirmation and yelled back to Fairy Tail. "GRAY'S HOME!"

It was hours later when the welcome home party stopped, and Gray had been introduced to every new face. Gray was out back by Juvia's grave again, sitting next to her one last time before he knew he had to go back home.

Gray heard a voice, and turned around. Mirajane. She walked over and sat next to the grave beside him. "We all miss her, you know."

Gray worked to keep more tears from falling.

"Her death was a mishappening that never should have ended up happening. We all lament it. All the little kids now, you know, the new generation, like Layla and Igneel, refer to her as Aunt Juvia. We will never forget her. And we didn't forget you. What's your life like right now?"

Gray sighed. "I'm married to a woman named Makaria, with a ten year old daughter named Emma and a 8 year old boy named David. We have another one on the way. My family knows nothing about me being an ice wizard. I trade rare edible items. All my Fairy Tail stuff is locked away. I think about her every five seconds."

Mirajane sighed. "You need to go home to your family Gray. You need to cherish them and love them because deaths happen. We all miss Juvia, and we all want her back, but nothing will ever change. Remember, Juvia lives for the ones she loves. If you have love in your life, you must keep on living."

Gray looked down at the tombstone and his tears drip, drip, dropped, onto the grass. He would keep on living. For her. For Juvia.

The end


End file.
